A handcuffed drug suspect allegedly shot at the officers arresting him with a gun he had hidden between his bum cheeks .

Police say Isaac Vigil, a 32-year-old man from Denver, Colorado, fired at them as he was removed from a police car after being arrested on suspicion of drugs offences .

Despite frisking him three times, allegedly finding a knife and a crack pipe, cops failed to spot the handgun Vigil had down his trousers, secreted between his buttocks.

Officers arrested Vigil after they spotted him smoking meth in a car outside a McDonalds. On approaching him, the cops found him to be "very jumpy, talking, yelling at us. Cussin' us."

When they tried to search him the first time, the drug-squad detectives said Vigil was "highly agitated" and acting in a "squirrelly" fashion.

Because of his agitated state, the two drug detectives called for a uniformed officer to pick Vigil up, before checking his records and finding an outstanding arrest warrant for failure to appear in court on weapons offences.

After searching him twice more - and finding spent cartridges in his car - Vigil was bundled into a patrol car and driven back to the police station. As he was transported, police say he was "squirming" and said he'd been smoking meth for three days and repeatedly threatened the officers.

He allegedly said "I'm going to kill you" five or six times, before saying: "You better have a vest on."

He opened fire on the officers after they reached in to pull him out of the car. He'd initially refused to get out when ordered to, allegedly saying "Man! You're gonna hear a pop!"

As they reached in, they heard a gunshot, and saw Vigil was holding a gun with his cuffed hands behind his back, pointing it at a detective.

After firing a second shot, Vigil's gun jammed. Corporal John Sisneros fired at Vigil, wounding him in the abdomen.

Police say they later found two bags of meth stuffed up his backside.

Vigil has been charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of first-degree assault, possession of a controlled substance, possession of a weapon by a previous offender, and possession of a defaced firearm.

The shooting happened on May 14th and Vigil remains in custody with bond set at $1,000,000.